Crown Princess Review

4.5 / 5.0
2,240 reviews

Good With Some Reservations

Review for the Western Caribbean Cruise on Crown Princess
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cassandra44
First Time Cruiser • Age 70s

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Sail Date: Jan 2010
Cabin: Balcony
Traveled with children

Overall experience It was our first cruise with my daughter, son in law and our two granddaughters, aged 4 and 6. We had thought of Disney but had heard it was very noisy and we liked the look of the Pelican area which we had seen on prior Princess cruises and so we decided on the Crown Princess. An additional bonus was that it was going to Grand Cayman where other family members live! We had a thoroughly enjoyable week. The destinations - Grand Cayman, Roatan, Cozumel and Princess Cays were all good choices for young children because they allowed a lot of beach time. We had considered booking an independent excursion from Roatan to see the island but decided that with young children touring around in a car was not a great option. Instead we opted to take them in the chairlift which runs from right near the ship to Mahogany Beach. The experience in the chairlift was a definite plus for the children! The beach was a bit crowded but apart from that was really good because we were able to go back and forth on the chairlift and we went back to the ship for lunch. Cozumel was great. We took a 10 minute taxi ride to Chankanaab National Park and they were able to see sea lions, dolphins and even a manatee. In addition there was a lovely shallow area for the children to swim and it was right beside a climbing area which they loved. Princess Cays was less successful mainly because we had booked 2 clam shells for the day and no one told us that they were fixed and could not be moved. Since they were quite a way from the Pelican play area we simply could not use them and I wasted $48 on the price of renting them. There are plenty of shady areas on the main beach and you don't have to rent clam shells. It was a bit crowded for us (the first time we were actually aware of the huge number of passengers on board) but we could have opted to do other things. The ship

Having been on Emerald and the Ruby Princess (both in their first year) we had got used to the lovely pristine condition of both ships. Crown was fine was is now looking very tired in comparison with the other two. The deck chairs (we had 2 mini suites) really seemed very worn and a couple had holes that looked like cigarette burns. We also found that several things had been thrown over the balconies of cabins above so that they landed on our balconies (on Dolphin). This included a cigar butt. Also the blue "matting" on the balcony was dirty and needed a good scrub. I also noticed a lot of rust under the railings. I think this ship really needs to be spruced up.

Food was good - we used both the Horizon Cafe (for breakfast and lunch) and the Michelangelo dining room for dinner. We had great wait staff (thanks Elena and Olena!) and a very good cabin steward (Albert) who looked after turning down the sofa bed for our two grandchildren.

Cabin Review

Balcony

We liked our 2 mini suites on Dolphin. In particular we liked the bath and extra room in the bathroom and the sitting area.

Negative? The balcony chairs were worn and had holes and the deck matting on the balcony was dirty - it was stained and needed replacing.

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